Across Europe a challenge facing teachers is that of responding to learner diversity (Booth and Ainscow, 1998; UNESCO, 2010).  Increased population movement between countries has added to the urgency, with schools in most countries admitting more young people with ethnic, cultural and linguistic differences.  There is also widespread concern regarding the progress of students defined as having special educational needs and those from economically poor backgrounds who tend to lose out most starkly, achieve the worst results and attend the lowest performing schools. 

This symposium is focused on this crucial agenda.  It will present the findings of a three-year study carried out in Spain, Portugal and the UK, funded through the European Union Comenius Multilateral Projects programme.  This has led to the development and evaluation of a professional development model that supports teachers in developing inclusive classroom practices.  The model involves the merging of the lesson study approach and engaging with the views of students in such a way so as to ensure students’ active participation and learning.

The study addressed the following research questions:

• How can an engagement with the views of students be used to stimulate inclusive practices amongst teachers?
• What techniques and strategies can be used as part of teacher development activities? and
• How can these techniques and strategies be used in different national contexts?

It involved two cycles of collaborative action research, carried out by teachers and researchers in the three countries.  This involved a total of eight secondary schools and four universities.  Each team experimented with ways of collecting and engaging with the views of students in order to foster the development of more inclusive classroom practices (Ainscow and Kaplan, 2005; Messiou, 2012).  The use of a ‘lesson study’ approach was used to foster teacher development (Hiebert, Gallimore and Stigler, 2002).  Then, through processes of networking with the other partner schools, they shared their experiences and findings.  Building on earlier research, the project illustrates how this provided rich opportunities for learning, as practitioners reflected on similarities and differences between the various contexts.

The university researchers supported these activities, particularly in respect to the writing of evaluative accounts based on observations and interview data.  From a methodological point of view, triangulation was achieved by comparing and contrasting evidence from different sources - teachers, students, researchers.  In this way validity of the findings was scrutinised.    Use was also made of audit trails that analysed how evidence had been used to support claims in respect to the impact on teacher thinking and practice, and on student outcomes.  An external evaluator interrogated these audit trails, offering a written critical evaluation of their trustworthiness.  The papers will report the findings in regards to the processes involved in the project in a way that is intended to stimulate debate within the symposium.  Explanations will also be provided as to how the project outputs can be used in other contexts.

References:

Ainscow, M. and Kaplan, I. (2005) Using evidence to encourage inclusive school development:  possibilities and challenges. Australasian Journal of Special Education 29, (2) 106 -116.

Booth, T. and Ainscow, M. (1998) From Them to Us. London: Routledge.

Hiebert, J., Gallimore, R. and Stigler, J.W. (2002) A knowledge base for the teaching profession: what would it look like and how can we get one?  Educational Researcher 31(5), 3-15.

Messiou, K. (2012) Confronting Marginalisation in Education:  A Framework for Promoting Inclusion.   London: Routledge. 

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (2010) EFA Global Monitoring Report:  Reaching the Marginalized.    Paris:  UNESCO.